The Director of Anti-Corruption Agency Akmal Burkhanov at a meeting of the Senate Committee on December 21 said when the system will be launched for declaring income and property by civil servants in Uzbekistan.
By presidential decree, the system of mandatory declaration of income and property by civil servants, heads and deputies of state enterprises and institutions with a state share of over 50%, as well as their spouses and minor children, will be launched from January 1, 2022.
Akmal Burkhanov said that the bill has already been developed jointly with foreign and local experts, as well as a number of ministries and departments.
“The bill is ready. As in the case with the register [of corrupt officials], there were objections on two or three items from some ministries and departments. We have created a joint working group for agreement. Once the [approval] is over, we will put the project up for public input, ”he said.
He assured that the transition to the declaration system will not be delayed.
“We have already started technical and organizational work. It takes five to six months to create such a system and develop a technical assignment, but we asked the Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications to speed up. We asked in September, at the end of November they gave us a positive opinion - the terms of reference are ready. We have carried out all the preparatory work to launch the base,” he said.
According to him, the base for declaration system will be launched from 2022.
“But it is true that the adoption of the law may be delayed. There is a high probability that the law will not be passed until January. But the declaration system will still be launched. The launch on January 1, 2022 does not mean that [the civil servant] will submit the declaration from January 1. If we take the experience of foreign countries, then on average it is provided up to three months. As is the case with the tax return, which is due before April 1st. We want to give this term. If accepted in January, income and property received from 2022 will be taken into account, ”said Akmal Burkhanov.
From January 1, 2022, civil servants are also prohibited from opening and owning accounts, keeping funds, owning real estate and other property outside the territory of Uzbekistan (with the exception of civil servants working abroad and property acquired before entering the civil service).
According to the chief of the Anti-Corruption Agency, currently the possession of accounts and property abroad for civil servants is not a violation of the law. After the adoption of the law, monitoring will be carried out pending amendments to the criminal and administrative codes. Then the agency, together with foreign partners, will check the existence of bank accounts and property of civil servants abroad.
